


Belief

by Trekkele



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Anxiety, Dad!Pike is my favorite, Dadmiral Christopher Pike, Gen, Panic Attacks, Starfleet Academy, cross posted on tumblr, first and second impressions, i just stick her i whenever possible, nyota uhura is my favorite, probably unrealistic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 16:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14697567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trekkele/pseuds/Trekkele
Summary: She didn't think she liked James Kirk.Then again, the first time she met him he'd been loud and drunk and more than a little rude.But it was rare that she misread someone. Something told her not to make this particular mistake twice.





	Belief

**Author's Note:**

> ummm, this was the first fic I ever posted. Anywhere. Enjoy, I guess?

She didn’t think she liked James Kirk.

Ok, so she doesn’t know if she would like him, since technically they had only spoken once, but she really didn’t think so. And she almost never read people wrong.

Which was why she was currently stuck halfway down the corridor, watching him have what looked like a mild panic attack.

He couldn’t see her. She had stopped when he burst out of the office door, stepping swiftly behind an alcove for no other reason than that she didn’t have time to deal with his particular brand of manic energy. But instead of bouncing down the hallway like she thought he would, he leaned against the wall as if it was the only thing keeping him upright. And that wall was doing a terrible job of it.

She was debating calling for help, or trying to help him herself, when she heard footsteps echoing down the hallway.

“There you are kid, you’re almost 10 minutes late!”

McCoy. The doctor with apparently no bedside manner and a take no shit attitude that terrified the idiots in her Command Structure 101 class.

“Bones! Bonesbones - bones!” Kirk was gasping, breathing out that weird (but weirdly cute) nickname, like he wasn’t sure he was getting it right the first time so he had to say it over and over.

“Lord, kid whats the matter? What happened? Didn’t you have a meeting with Pike? Was it something- what did Pike say? What'd he do?”

Uhura was training to be a diplomat, but honestly even she got whiplash from McCoy’s progressive concern - anger - concern.

“He - he said. God Bones, he said he believes me. Me!” Kirk almost choked on his words, gasping into his palms as McCoy squatted, face to face.

“What?“ McCoy paused, staring at Kirk’s face, like it was particularly difficult puzzle he never meant to get involved with “…Kirk I don’t understand. “

“He said he believed in me. Me. Not my - name, ” Kirk whispered back. “Do you know how long?..” his voice tapered off, dropping and disappearing as he lifted his eyes to the doctors. With his face flushed red and blue eyes large and terrified, he looked impossibly young.

Abruptly, as if noticing for the first time where he was, he smiled, bouncing shakily up. Uhura knew body language, could read it like the other 16 federation languages she was currently fluent in. But he slipped into confidence like a coat, hiding whatever that had been behind a blinding grin and a “Nah Bones. Never - never mind Bones, lets go. You wanted coffee before Xenobiology and You, right? There’s a fantastic cafe down by -“

“Bones”, protesting superficially that it was “Xenobiology 1, stop renaming my coursework, dammit kid, its confusing as it is!” Followed him down the hall at a brisk pace, leaving Uhura with, once again, whiplash. And a sort of buzzing in her chest which was definitely not pity , or concern, no, it was closer to… she’d call it understanding, for now. And expectations. After all, it was rare that she misread someone. Something told her not to make that mistake twice.

3 months later when they ranked the classes for the first time, she was hardly surprised that Kirk was in the top 3% of all his courses. She was a communications officer. She knew how words work. She knew how powerful they could be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> This was originally posted on my tumblr (under the same name) so if it looks familiar that might be why.


End file.
